Kent Golf Limited
Kent Men's 1st Team v Surrey match report
Date published: 25 Aug 2023
The maths had been done and Kent had to beat Surrey 10-2 in order to win the league this year. There were some other calculations, whereby if Surrey beat Kent, they would win the league, and if Surrey were to lose to Kent, but get at least 5 points, they would win the league from Hampshire. From the onset, it was a very tall order for Kent.
The morning foursomes went well for Kent with the Matches 2, 3 & 4 having comfortable wins and never really getting into trouble. The first pairing of Burns & Sherreard, however, had a real battle. They were 4 down through 4 holes and all square after 9 and then it went head to head from then on in until Kent won the 15th & 16th, lost the 17th, and won the 18th to win by 2 holes. Kent went into lunch with the 4-0 lead. They needed to be on track for the 10-2 win they required.
An usually long lunch break from the early finishes in the morning meant the teams had chance to discuss their team selection and watch a bit of the Women's World Cup.
The singles got under way at 1pm, and it was evident after about 9 holes that it wasn't going Kent's way. In 6 out of the matches Kent were down, and in most cases '2 down'. Surrey were definitely playing well and making inroads into the Kent lunchtime score. At this stage, Benn Barham (Coach), went round to all players and had a chat! Kent lost the first two matches, but they were strong to win two matches with Panting & Byers playing well & eventually winning their games 3&2. It was the other four matches that the Kent players turned around. All four matches, Kent won the 18th hole, which meant that Bell & Kelso secured good halves, and Jones & Essam secured excellent wins. A 9-3 victory was brilliant against our neighbours Surrey, but it wasn't quite the dream of 10-2 at the start of the day. As County Captain, I was truly proud of the way the Kent side played on the day. A victory in my final game was 'sweet'.
We look forward to the National finals at the end of September at Southport & Ainsdale GC. A very good squad of 7 players has been brought together for the matches against Yorkshire, Gloucestershire & Lincolnshire.
They are:
Connor Bell (Royal Blackheath)
Conor Byers (Langley Park)
Mason Essam (Dartford)
Danny Jones (Wildernesse)
Jacob Kelso (Kings Hill)
Ben Quinney (Rochester & Cobham Park)
Tom Sherreard (Kings Hill)
We live in hope that we can bring back the trophy that we won in 2019.
Paul Cannons (County Captain & Team Manager)
Match 1 Liam Burns (Chislehurst) & Tom Sherreard (Kings Hill)
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